In the vibrant world of Singapore’s emerging contemporary art scene, few voices resonate as profoundly as that of Faris Heizer. Emerging from a background where artistic pursuits were considered mere hobbies, Faris has forged a path that defies expectations. His journey began with simple sketches and YouTube tutorials, evolving into a rich exploration of colour, texture, and the human experience.
Currently enjoying success with his third solo show with Cuturi Gallery ‘The Man Who Eventually Moved’, Faris is known for his unique painting techniques and thoughtful reflections on life where he captures the essence of transient moments and the emotions that linger within them.
Join me in this interview as we delve into Faris's artistic origins, his influences—from the haunting works of Francis Bacon, the intensity of El Greco’s figures and the emotional landscapes of Van Gogh—and discover the innovative methods that define his style. With an eye for the subtleties of everyday life, Faris discusses the balance of isolation and comfort within his art, and how he navigates the challenges of being a young artist in a bustling city. Enjoy this conversation as we explore the depths of his creative mind and the stories behind his compelling pieces.
Can you give me a bit of background about where you've come from as an artist?
I come from a family where art is…I wouldn't say frowned upon or anything, but it's seen as just a hobby, not a profession. My siblings and I were allowed to draw during our free time, but it was never really a thing which we thought we could pursue. I've always loved drawing, I would practice the basics like watercolour, with tutorials on YouTube and that’s how I learned my craft so I took it as an elective at secondary school.
I've always been a kid who doesn't really care about anything. I always got scolded by my parents for not caring because I'm just like ‘Whatever, man!’ I've always been like that. But with drawing, I found a purpose. That's where I felt like it taught me discipline because I like to focus on my craft, I have to improve and take advice and practice hard because I'm not really a fast learner so it has drilled me.
Were you looking at art? Were you going to galleries?
No, not really but eventually I started to go to art openings in Gillman Barracks because one of my lecturers, Raymond Yap took us to a gallery and that was the start of everything. I was like, “Oh, it's actually very important to go to openings to know what's going on in Singapore”.
Are there any unusual techniques you use in your paintings?
I wouldn’t call it unusual but I use this medium called retardant which helps to bring out the vibrancy of the pigment. For acrylic it's a really flexible medium which helps to slow down the drying process and that allows me to play with textures.
Is that something that you were taught or did you discover that technique yourself?
A few of my art teachers mentioned that I have a certain way of rendering, which is a bit unique, they call it rough and hairy! I used to work with charcoal and create squiggly organic lines and I thought that maybe I can apply it to painting but I needed the retardant to slow things down and create that texture with the paint. So it's something I’ve worked with to get that effect with acrylic.
The technique you describe creates so much movement in your paintings, it seems to bring everything into a fluidstate.
I think it's also because of the linen surface because it absorbs a bit of the paint and forces me to be a bit more creative with my colour planning. It teaches me to play with colour so I feel like I'm slowly developing this eye for colour and being more playful with it. Sometimes I leave the linen free of paint so you can see the original colour of the linen and I use it as a mid-tone or sometimes I use it as a highlight. I’m constantly challenging myself to improve as an artist, leaving negative space. I've seen a lot of artists who do that. Francis Bacon does it really well.
It sounds like perfecting the technical side of your practice has always been important to you.
That’s why I developed as an artist. My friends used to tease me, “Oh, you got so much paint here, why are you so selfish with the paint?” Because I always use a little bit of paint and then dry brush and wipe it off and dry brush again. There is a rough look to my paintings – just layers and layers of dry brush.
Bacon is obviously an inspiration for you. Who else?
I would say El Greco. Greco for the figure, figuration, how he expressed the flesh of the human condition. But Francis Bacon is really the main inspiration for me, the way he paints shadows, it's really impactful. I can only dream of achieving those emotions you know? I would say he’s an inspiration when I paint limbs and fingers and he has especially taught me about the application of paint when painting fabric because when you zoom in, it looks like a landscape, it looks like mountains and you can't really imagine how rough the fabric is or how heavy the fabric is. His stuff really moves me.
I see echoes of Van Gogh in your work too, a sense of labouring against something. Your paintings in this exhibition speak of the ‘everyday man’ and I think that's what he was trying to express as well. The toil of everyday life.
Yeah, I feel like he paints everyday life really beautifully. There's a melancholic feel, but somehow the colour states otherwise, like putting on a brave smile. I like the emotions he painted, the language is kind of fluid and I'm trying to achieve that.
The title of your current exhibition is ‘The Man Who Eventually Moved’. Who is he?
The piece that is central to this exhibition is an installation of two benches ‘Last Legs’ where you can see the remnants of somebody who sat there for a bit: empty beer cans, cigarette butts and the ghost of his image on the bench. I was thinking of weather and ageing in order to portray a poetic feel where a person has aged with the bench, has become one with the bench and as he walks away, he leaves a faint imprint. I wanted to portray something of the struggle of moving on, he leaves a part of himself behind but also takes some of the bench with him.
There is something very significant about a park bench which you always associate with people just sitting observing and here you get the sense of someone who has been sitting and observing, while we're standing and observing what they leave behind and there's always a bit of someone left behind in any scenario. I think that's quite a nice reflective image of life being transient, that we're all wrapped up in each other's lives somehow.
Your subjects are generally anonymous, walking away into the shadows or tucked behind a building and you create a veil-like veneer to your paintings. There's a sense of being removed, unnerved, is that intentional?
For me, that's the emotion, it's about time and stillness, and observation. I think it's more of a subconscious thing where I focus on the subject of time but it’s a complex subject. Normally, I start a painting from a captured image on my phone. When I start the process of painting, the initial idea changes and becomes a sort of a fuzzy memory. I feel like this goes hand in hand with my process of adding multiple thin layers of dry brush, creating a sense of a hazy veil-like effect. I'm aware that my paintings can’t represent the experiences that I've yet to face so I’m actually looking forward to growing old so I can make my works even more meaningful, more subtle. Because what I want to achieve as a painter is just being subtle. Subtle is king to me.
Your work is both isolating and comforting at the same time. How do you navigate that tension when you're painting?
I would say it's more like an interplay between being lonely and being alone. It’s halfway between the two and this is reflected in my work naturally because it's a subconscious thing which we all experience. I wouldn't say that painting itself is lonely, but you're doing it on your own. I share a studio with my friends and my girlfriend Aisha so there’s company there, but it's still quite a lonely profession because everything is inside.
You’re still young but your paintings seem to have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Is that something you're aware of?
Somebody did mention that once, that I have an old soul, and that was when I was only 19! I'm like ‘Man!’ I think it's because I have this tendency to observe, to daydream, so I’ve formed my own narrative without knowing it. I'm a young guy, but I think I'm real. I look at things real. I'm a realist. It’s about being appreciative of what I have so that's my philosophy. Because as a Singaporean, it's not easy to be an artist especially a figurative artist but there's a resurgence of interest in artists like me and others, like Alvin Ong or Ruben Pang, who’ve paved the way, so I'm just appreciative that there’s interest in people who paint like me now.
Your paintings are often based on an emotional response to something. Can you talk me through that?
I don't feel overwhelmingly sad or overwhelmingly excited about things. I've always been a nonchalant kid, you know. I think my paintings portray that. Everything is subdued and quiet. Like the plant in ‘Home Plant’ isn’t meant to be here. It's supposed to be placed outside or something. Why is that even still there you know because my mom places plants outside! So, it just attracted my attention, it was pretty dark but there was a streetlamp and some light was creeping in and I’m trying to capture that sense of just being, just existing.
You manage to depict these quiet moments in a bustling city that is so full of life, so full of noise.
There are so many people in Singapore but everyone has their own individual way of creating space around them. Sometimes I portray these individuals with their shoes off, scratching their toes or something and I capture these moments, often with a bit of humour. I'm attracted to small things, and these small gestures catch my attention. I guess I’m always slightly back from the crowd, I’ve read somewhere that I might need to go to therapy for it!
You’ve created some drawings for this exhibition as well.
Sometimes I get tired of painting, so I draw instead and sometimes I work it up into a painting. I like the effect of paper, the light, shadows and natural marks. I bought a roll of paper in Yogyakarta about five to six years ago and the paper was exposed to light and become marked. So it's a really cool natural process which relates to this particular drawing ‘Chainsmoker (study)’. Sometimes when you get an effect on the paper or the canvas, it's quite nice to work with that as part of the creative process and in this drawing the person has been there for a very long time, so the subject and the paper worked together to create the image.
You use perspective in an unusual way, large hands, big legs or feet. Is there a reason for that?
I want to portray a heaviness so perhaps I’ll make the torso a little bit longer than usual or the head smaller so perspective gives clues to what's going on and I use it selectively. I'm trained in realism and sometimes I want to challenge myself but realism can be quite rigid, so I bend it a little bit, bend the rules of realism, and when it's needed I use exaggerated perspective.
Can you talk to me about colour? You create a fluorescence, an iridescence. How do you do that?
I create an orange layer which kind of glows from underneath then I paint lots and lots of yellows and greens and blues and purples, and then I glaze it with orange and purples so they get lost. That's one good thing about using acrylic as a medium because I can do so many layers. That's why like I glaze too. Sometimes I don't just glaze at the end, I glaze in between the process because it gives me clarity through the different stages of painting. But you have to know when to stop, being a painter is not about flashy brush strokes it's more about restraint.
How do you know when to finish a painting?
I normally leave my painting for about a week. I call it marinating! It's a good period of time to let it rest and just exist on its own. Then decide.
How do you decide on scale? Your work spans a whole range of sizes.
I feel the scale is important because certain work needs to be small, some needs to be big. If I want to capture a moment I will draw a rough idea of how it looks, just a study, that’s how the process starts, then I make decisions on size. Big for me is a feeling of control, small is subtle so it’s about finding the sweet spot in between.
What are what are your biggest challenges as an artist?
I try not to care too much about the demand for my work and how much I am earning from it but sometimes I get caught up in this because of course we need money, we need to pay for things but for me it's more the balance of selling and doing what I want. Luckily I have Cuturi behind me to help with marketing because I mean that's always a big issue with artists. How do you do everything you've got to do, your work, your social media, it's really hard, but having a good relationship with a gallery makes that easier. Also working with a collaborative group of people and having supportive friends helps like Casey (Tan). He comes to a studio quite often and is such a positive ball of energy.
You’ve already had a successful solo show in LAand now this 3rd solo show at Cuturi Gallery in Singapore. What’s next for you?
I don’t really have anything planned but I feel like the next few years I just wanna work on becoming more fluent with my visual language, be it painting or sculptural. From that, I hope to get more opportunities as I try to work on improving my craft.
Any advice for emerging artists?
It is just a case of taking your time and not putting too much pressure on yourself and just pursuing what you need to do and trying to find a way to live around that. Just focus on your craft and keep making work….more and more of it and perhaps one or two of those works will be worth showing, allow yourself to fail first. Get yourself involved, go to openings of artists that attract you and go and show your face. Being an artist might slow you down in terms of having your own house or having a particular life. But that's the price you pay right?
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